The good news is that no matter which group you belong to, there are many opportunities for you to try.

Now the amount of money you can make on the internet (or with opportunities that are available as a direct result of the internet) is only limited by what you can do, how familiar you are with doing it, and whether or not you’re comfortable promoting yourself and what you do.

For example, there are bloggers who are making 7 figures, so you can imagine that the bar is set quite high in terms of what is possible.

On the flip side, there are people working on the internet who are making a few dollars a day.

There are also tons of people in between, making a few hundred dollars a month.

Disparities in income are the same on the internet as they are in real life – it’s a matter of supply and demand.

A quick reminder

Before we begin, please remember that we made this list with a wide variety of people in mind.

It is incredibly unlikely that every option on this list will be a good fit for you.

That’s why we compiled a very large list so everyone can find a few options that may interest them.

Feel free to try as many of these opportunities as you like.

But don’t spread yourself too thin.

Pick a few and put all your efforts behind them so you can get results.

Don’t get bugged down with the shiny object syndrome. That is one reason why so many people fail to make money online. They keep jumping from one thing to another without ever giving one 100%. They then conclude that this is all a myth and that making money online nothing but scam.

Earning money without a job on the internet

We are going to list over 60 ways that you can make money without a traditional job.

We are going to start with online opportunities, then we’ll cover options for making money without a job, offline.

2- Get cash from Class Action Lawsuits

Yes, you can get free money from the hundreds and thousands of class action lawsuits that are brought on companies every year.

But how do you find these lawsuits, and what if you don’t even have a proof that you have used the said company’s product or service which qualifies you for the settlement?

Good news is that there are sites out there dedicated to listing all the class action lawsuits that are still open.

And the better news is that many of these cases don’t require a proof of purchase. For example, if you have ever drank RedBull, you get up to $15 through a class action lawsuit brought on the company because of their slogan “RedBull Gives You Wings”.

3- Sell old books

The beauty of this method is that most of us already have lots of books that we no longer need or use. Selling them can be a great sources of extra income.

And if you want to take a step further, you could hit your local thrift shops, buy used books for pennies, then sell them for $5, $10, and even up to $100 or more depending on the book.

What makes this process even easier is the existence of sites and apps like BookScouter.

Simply install their app, then scan any book’s ISBN with it, you will instantly be given the highest prices you can sell that book for online. BookScouter searches over 40 buy-back-book sites to find you the highest price.

6- Start a blog

For those of you who don’t know, blogging is when you write for your own website, usually posting articles, recipes, reviews, or commentary (with the website itself being the “blog.”)

Think of it like writing articles for a newspaper that you’re the sole proprietor of.

Believe it or not, blogging is actually a very strong opportunity for making money, as we mentioned up above regarding the top bloggers.

In the past, the primary obstacle for hosting a blog would have been obtaining a domain to host the blog, but now there are platforms dedicated solely to blogging, like WordPress, which make it easier than ever to get into the game and start a money-making blog in no time.

Blogging is a great investment in terms of time and money because an article you wrote for 4 hours will be up and available for viewing for as long as your site lives.

Furthermore, it requires essentially no money to keep going but has the potential to make you plenty of money.

There is too much to say about blogging to fit into this article, but if you like the sound of it, definitely do some searches and read up on it.

Even if you’re not comfortable with the idea of running a blog, you can still get paid to write for someone else’s.

Note:These are free blagging platforms that allow you to build a site quickly and for free. Start with these, get a feel for how this whole blogging thing works, then you can move on and buy your own domain name and hosting. At that point, I would suggest you build your blog using WordPress (this is the .org version of it which is for self-hosted sites).

7- Be an affiliate marketer

If you’re not familiar with affiliate marketing, it means that you’ll advertise something in return for a commission on the sales. This is essentially a sales job that can be done by the introverted and the extroverted alike, since it doesn’t require that you actually interface with people on a personal basis.

Affiliate marketing is usually a way that people prefer to advertise their product because it feels more organic, and people are more likely to purchase something that they don’t feel has been explicitly advertised to them.

Affiliate marketing is usually tied to blogging, as a blog is an ideal place to do something like write a review of a product and provide a link to the product at the end.

Some affiliate marketers are paid simply to drive traffic and don’t need to make sales, but as a rule of thumb, you should be trying to drive sales in the least “advertisey” way possible.

9- Telecommute

Despite the fancy name, telecommuting is as simple as it comes. A telecommuter is simply someone who does what would be done in a normal office job, but they do it from home.

It can be in a variety of industries, advertising or administration or anything else.

What jobs can be done via telecommuting are more about what companies are offering telecommuting jobs than about what can be done at a distance.

In the internet age, virtually every job can be done from home.

Whether you’re coding software, coming up with advertising, if you’re an artist or a writer or a manager, it can likely be done from home. Even board meetings can be done via communications software like Skype.

Do a quick Google search for Telecommuting jobs and you’re sure to find some websites that will help you get going.

11- Sell your talent (even the bizarre and crazy ones!)

Something like, “I’ll do a 30-second recording in an Australian accent.”

The person contacts you, you do the work, and you get paid ($4 per job, actually, because the site keeps $1.)

This is a good option, but only if you have a skill that you are capable of doing in mass.

You might want to consider doing this if you’re trying to build a portfolio for something so that you can move up eventually and charge more for your services.

For those in western countries, the income from Fiverr might not be quite enough. But if you live somewhere with a lower cost of living, and you can do a high volume of business, then the money from this site can add up to something pretty significant.

12- Get paid for expert advice

Are you someone with a high level of knowledge about a certain topic?

There are a variety of websites that are willing to pay you for your expertise.

The general format is that a question will be posed to an expert, and you’ll provide your answer. If the asker approves your answer, they’ll pay out, and the site will give you your cut after intermediary fees.

You could be looking at making $10-$20 per accepted answer, so the money can definitely add up.

However, they’re pretty serious about the idea of an “expert.” So you’re going to need to go through an application process to join their ranks, and they might require details like thorough work history, college degrees, etc. But if you’re capable of providing proof of expertise, this is a great way to make some side money.

Sites to use:

AllExperts (Update: they are no longer paying their experts. You can, however, answer questions as a volunteer.)

13- Write for cash

As you might imagine, being a writer is a dream job for many people.

The internet provides a lot of opportunities to be a paid writer, and a portion of those people are able to rise to prominence and make a solid living from the profession. But even if not, you can almost definitely make good side-money for being a writer.

This is related to blogging, but not strictly limited to it.

Writers can get paid for any type of writing, but sites like WritersDomain will often offer you a topic and a price and ask you to write an article with a certain word limit.

Sites like that are a good way to get started, but if you’re looking to get more serious about writing, you should pursue a more long-term situation by finding clients through a site like oDesk or eLance.

It is recommended for anyone looking to be a full-time writer to manage multiple types of writing, like writing for clients, writing for a blog, and potentially using their writing skills to pursue affiliate marketing.

14- Write an e-Book

Lots of people have begun putting out e-books for supplemental income (or in cases of great success, primary income!)

An “e-book” just refers to the idea that it is published through an electronic book vendor, like Amazon’s Kindle and Nook services.

Many e-books are rushed out in absolutely terrible condition; they might contain factual errors, spelling errors, formatting errors, syntactical errors- the list goes on. You can set yourself above the rest by putting more work into the presentation of the book.

A good cover will help you out a lot, as will producing a work of quality rather than quantity. You can find plenty of bad e-books that are making a little bit of money, but if you want the big bucks, you should really buckle down, and maybe even consider hiring an editor.

Conversely, you may be able to find work on the freelancing sites where you can get paid to write people’s e-books for them!

16- Get paid to post on forums

This one is nice and simple.

People who are starting new forums online often need a way to build the notoriety of their website, and one way of doing this is to hire people to make quality posts on their forums to draw attention to them.

A good hub for this type of work is the aptly-named paidforumposting.com, who employ a select number of writers who are contracted out to websites to do the posting.

It is definitely a sort of side-income, but multiple types of side-income add up to primary income, so it’s still worth looking into.

19- Make videos

Especially over the last few years, being a “YouTuber” has become a legitimate profession and one that earns money far and above a regular job if you can rise to prominence.

The top 10 channels on YouTube make at least $20,000 a month, and that’s not even considering how much they are capable of making in merch sales, or under-the-table endorsement type deals.

The phenomenon of “Let’s Play,” or videos of people playing video games while talking, has become massive and there are hundreds of thousands of people trying to break through on it.

The website TwitchTV is also an example of the rising prevalence of Let’s Plays. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing video games, or music, or talking, as long as what you’re doing is interesting and people want to watch it.

Let’s be clear, though: becoming a successful YouTuber requires work, luck, and diligence, so the idea of being a full-time video maker is more of an exception than a rule. However, if you can make a few videos and get some subscribers, it can be a great secondary source of income.

You may also consider uploading to a site like Break, which offers a higher split of the advertising money (but has a much smaller audience.)

21- Complete offers for cash

Well, this one is more of a method of mitigating loss than of making money, but it makes sense to take advantage of, as you’ll see.

There are such things as GPT (get paid to) sites that will offer you money in return for taking advantage of opportunities that their sponsors offer.

Surely, there are some GPT tasks that don’t require any purchase, you might be asked to subscribe to a newsletter or provide your traffic to a website. But you also might be asked to do something like try a trial of a service or purchase a month of something, and in that case, you’ll need to put money towards the task. The GPT site will reimburse you in whatever form they compensate through.

This is a good method for something like getting a Netflix account. If you’re going to get one, and don’t have one, you might as well find a GPT site that gives you cash back for it, and recoup a little bit of the cost by taking advantage of it.

22- Install software

Now, there are two ways to get money for installing software and they’re totally different.

The one you’re most likely to find opportunities for is a form of affiliate marketing, where you post the download link to the software on your website and get paid per person who installs it.

That’s option one.

Option two is helping people who don’t understand computers very well to install software. That one is obviously the preferable option, but it’s a market that has been mostly cornered by services like the Geek Squad (and they’re charging a fortune to do it!)

If you happen to come across anybody who needs this service, just charge less than the Geek Squad, and you’ll still be able to make good money for very little work.

25- Share files

Now, this is admittedly a bit of a tight-lipped service, so I can’t tell you the exact ins and outs of it all. But there does exist a whole market out there where you can get paid to upload files to file sharing services, and you’ll get paid either per upload or per download.

The payout is usually $1 per down/upload, but some sites advertise the possibility of $5-$20 per.

It’s hard to talk too much about it, because there is the possibility that the files that are uploaded and shared might be breaching some sort of copyright, and that’s some dicey stuff to get into.

But if you’re willing to look into it, you can find plenty of resources to read about it online.

26- Work as a translator

In our rising global culture, there is more need than ever to have documents translated from one language to another. This isn’t just limited to documents, of course; people are going to want audio, video, and even images to be translated.

If you are bilingual (the more languages you speak, the better) there is a wealth of work available for you online.

Freelancing sites like oDesk regularly see this type of work advertised, but Gengo is a website that specializes in employing translators.

Your abilities of translation are valuable, so don’t be afraid to look around!

Once you build up some skills and experience, you can charge a pretty fair wage for this service.

Making money offline without work

So there’s the list of opportunities that can be done mostly or exclusively online. But if you’re not into that form of work, rejoice!

We’ve got plenty more options for you listed below on ways that can help you earn money around town.

27- Become a ghost shopper

There’s a pretty fair chance you’ve never heard of ghost shopping.

Ghost shopping is a service that people seek out when they’re low on time but have cash to spare. It means that someone will send you out to do their shopping for them, and then you will deliver it to them in return for a small fee.

Now, a Google search for this term offers some confusion because it mostly lists “mystery shopping,” which is a different service we will discuss below.

It’s safe to assume that this is mostly a person-to-person activity, but there’s no reason you couldn’t use it to build up your client base so you can expand it to a nice little side business

And if you run it as a business, the legitimacy will make people more comfortable sending you out into the world with their money.

32- Pawn

And it’s true that nobody wants to part with the things they hold dear, but pawning certainly isn’t all bad.

In its basic form, pawning is just receiving a loan where you provide your possessions for liability.

There is interest on the loan, of course, but it is also a loan that you can get on-demand without any messing about with credit history or things of that nature.

In my singular experience with pawning, the clerks were sincere, honest, and very clear about what the terms were. It doesn’t have to be as bad as it seems, and if you’re in need of the money it’s really a decent and civil option.

If your financial woes are temporary, you can always come back for it, after all.

34- Apply to be on a game show

OK, I know what you’re thinking. That sounds crazy, right? I might as well tell you to win the lottery.

Well, getting onto a game show isn’t as crazy as it seems. Only certain people will apply to be on a game show.

You’ll have to be comfortable being on camera, for one, and be willing to get to a studio and be there for 12 or more hours, maybe even staking out overnight if the applicants are decided by who arrives when.

If you’re the brainy type, apply to be on Jeopardy and see if you can pass the applications.

If you’re better at guessing, consider the Price Is Right, or maybe Family Feud.

It’ll depend on where you are and where it is filmed, but if you can spare the money to catch a plane, you can apply to any of them.

This option is far more grounded and realistic if you give it an honest try and are diligent about it.

35- Try your hand at pet sitting

Much like the dog walking option, this is best is you are good with animals (some might say it is necessary.)

The difference in this and walking dogs is that walking the dogs is an active task which requires more energy but is over more quickly. Pet sitting is a more passive sort of task, but it is also something that requires more time, often occurring overnight or across a series of days.

If you’re interested in this option, DogVacay.com will allow you to make a profile, set a rate, and advertise to people in the area.

It’s best to pitch yourself as someone who is familiar with and fond of animals because these people obviously care a lot about their pets.

Most people will prefer to have someone watch their pet who has a yard of their own.

37- Mow lawns

Western nations are very fond of their yards and lawns, so you have a high rate of potential customers concerning this.

Of course, many areas will have been accounted for by now, as gardening is a pretty big business (and an easy one to grow at that.)

You can get your foot in the door by figuring out the local rates and undercutting them. After all, the gardening companies in your area are also trying to pay the owner and the administrative costs in addition to the employees.

If you come in offering the service for half of that, then you can easily score some business and keep a tidy profit.

Offer pruning and trimming services for the other foliage around the house if you want to make a little extra, but make sure you’re capable of doing it well!

38- Be a mystery shopper

Remember up above when we talked about ghost shopping?

Well, here’s the form of paid shopping that people are more familiar with.

A mystery shopper is hired by a customer to go to an establishment and interact like a normal customer, except when you leave you’ll be giving a report on the state of the establishment, the behavior of the employees, and the quality of the service that you received.

You will often be paid a rate in return, and some businesses will cover the cost of the shopping you had to do while there.

A quick Google search will direct you to a few companies that hire mystery shoppers. There is a high demand for people who can attend theaters, and your demographic information will be important.

44- Be a window washer

And no, we’re not talking about the people who hang off the side of skyscrapers!

A storefront is important for any business, especially those that are on a single floor (readers with vertigo rejoice!)

You can offer a window cleaning service for a low rate, and secure your business on a weekly or a monthly rate.

The business might just tell their low-level employees to do the washing, but you can offer your services and free up their staff to do other things. After all, the windows are the customer’s view into the store itself, so we can’t scoff about the importance of a window washer.

45- Drive

These services are revolutionizing the taxi industry, which was before a competitive sort of business that left workers and customers alike dissatisfied.

All you do is install the ride sharing company’s app so you can get notified of people in your local area who need a ride.

Rates will often be quite high since this is technically a personal ride service.

There are drivers who are making a living with ride sharing, treating it as a full time job, and then there are those who use it as a way to make some extra cash on the weekend and whenever they have some free time.

Either way, it’s an awesome way to make some money with something you already have, a car!

46- Dumpster dive

Well, I completely understand your hesitation, dear reader, but I’m happy to inform you that dumpster diving isn’t all the negative that it seems like.

There is a whole community of people who dumpster dive, and it plays in the “freegan” lifestyle.

Don’t believe me?

Google “Dumpster Diving Reddit” to be directed to a popular forum for people who participate in it.

You’ll find that if you are willing to tolerate the unsavory idea of activity, there is really a lot of unnecessary waste in the world that the brave can benefit from.

This includes food, furniture, and appliances.

Too grossed out to even consider the idea?

Well, just wait for when a retail store is closing and ask if you can have the stuff that is due to be thrown out. Retail laws mandate that they throw out food by a certain date, even if it’s perfectly good.

A lot of people will be glad to give it to you, just knowing that the food isn’t going to be wasted.

47- Recycle scrap metal and tires

I’m putting both of these under the same heading since they’re the same basic concept.

If you have a large storage space available to you, you can stockpile old tires and metal and eventually take them down to a recycling plant/scrap yard to pick up a little bit of cash.

This is a very “industrial” option, recommended only to those who are comfortable with these types of items, and who have the capability to participate in it (you won’t be hauling 100 old tires to the plant in your old sedan, for example.)

49- Enter contests

Contests can be daunting. The rewards seem so good! But the chance of winning is so low.

Most people only enter a single contest every so often, and so they don’t view them as distinctly “winnable.”

I recommend a different approach. Enter EVERY contest you care even remotely about.

A contest has low odds of being won, so why not increase your odds by entering them all?

If you don’t want the prize, you can always sell it later.

I once knew someone who kept several cellphones on them for those “10th caller” contests on the radio– they’d pull out all the phones and start calling all at once. That person, as you might imagine, made it to a lot of free concerts.

51- Give massages

Now on this one, I’m going to have to strongly recommend that you go in with some idea of what you’re doing.

You can fudge some of the options on this list, admittedly, but a massage is a pretty intimate behavior.

The whole goal is to relax your customer, and everybody’s different, so if you go in there and start karate-chopping a frail, gentle person, you’re looking at a good opportunity for losing some business.

Now it doesn’t mean you have to have completed school for being a massage technician, but at least read up on it and maybe watch some videos and stuff.

Definitely find a few people close to you and convince them to let you practice on them. If you aren’t good at it yet, don’t try to make money yet.

Massaging is a life skill as much as it is a business skill, and you’ll find plenty of situations in your life where you’ll be glad you took the time to learn.

If you do manage to get some customers, mood is important too. Soothing music, good scents (candles or incense if the customer is alright with it,) and comfortable furniture are all ideal.

I’ve had massages at people’s home-run businesses, and I can attest that an amateur masseuse/masseur can be worth the money.

Note: Please keep in mind that in most places, you need to have a license to operate a business like that. So make sure to do your research and abide by the law.

54- Flip stuff

Flipping is another one of those things that seems simple, but I could really write about it for a long time.

Let’s just give the brief overview: you get things for cheap and sell them for more.

It might be because you fixed them up (which is the usual way of doing things,) or it might just be that you’ve got a better idea about what it’s worth than the original owner did.

A simple, but good way to get into flipping is to check the free section of your local Craigslist. If you’re lucky, you can grab some good stuff that people just don’t have room for anymore. Pick it up, and turn right around to sell it on the “for sale” section of that same Craigslist.

It might sound a little immoral, but it really isn’t: the person who is giving it away for free actively made the decision, and chances are that they wanted it gone immediately and didn’t have the luxury of waiting.

As the seller, you have the luxury of waiting, and that’s really the big difference.

Flipping is a perfectly legitimate way of making money, and some people do it full time.

55- Tutor

If you have any skill in an academic subject, you can easily make some money tutoring.

There are plenty of ways to go about it: if you’re a degree-holding graduate (or a qualifying undergraduate,) there are websites online that will accept your verification and attempt to match you up with students who need your services.

There are tutoring places in most mid-sized towns, as well, and you may even be able to find a job there (though if you find a job, that might invalidate the theme of this article!)

Of course, there is also the basic form of tutoring: simply helping someone in your life with their academic work.

It might be your cousin, or your best friend’s little sibling, but there are lots of people who need help with their studies, and if you’re there offering your services, they might be inclined to give up a little bit of money in return for their academic security.

You might consider offering a free first session, to allow them to test and see if they would like to continue with the service (and they’re more inclined to feel good about it if they feel like they’re getting a deal!)

56- Recycle

A few of the options above have touched on this possibility, but this is the recycling that’s as simple as it comes.

Recycling facilities are a huge thing around most towns, nowadays.

It incentivizes people to bring in recycling when it may have otherwise been tossed out or disregarded. And in turn, the recycling facility can take the materials and sell them, or reprocess them into something new.

They’ll pay you for the recycling you bring in by weight, so you’re looking to get as much of one type of container as you can (where I live, plastic pays the most, but you can also recycle aluminum and glass.)

58- Clean houses

Maid services are as old a service as it comes (though probably newer than the cooking position we talked about up above!)

There’s no doubt that maid services are prevalent in your town, thanks to companies like Molly Maid, who have a national grip on the house cleaning service.

But the upside for you is that these services are not cheap by any means. I’ve hired maids to help me clean my house before, and I can tell you that you’ll be sinking a few hundred easy in whenever you hire one.

The advice for this is the same as the others on the list, as far as preexisting businesses go: undercut their prices!

The problem with national services like this is that they have to raise their prices the larger they get to cover their new costs of business.

If you can convince a customer that you’re just as worthwhile and offer a better rate, then you’re going to have a good opportunity to secure a long-term customer.

Consider offer an extra service, like organizing. Professional organizers do exist, but breaking into the field is no piece of cake.

This could be a good way to get your foot in the door towards that path if you want it, but otherwise, it’s still not a bad gig to get paid for cleaning.

59- Babysit

You might consider this one the logical consequence of our previous option!

Babysitting is an ages-old way to make money, favored by teenagers across the world.

It’s easy money if you’re good with kids, but not so much if you don’t like them.

The biggest barrier to entry with babysitting is simply that the market is saturated, and people are most likely to trust a teenage girl to babysit their kid than a grown man. However, if you want to get your foot in the door, you should always start with friends and family.

There is also care.com, which is a babysitting hub where you can make a profile and set your rate.

In closing

Now, how’s that for a list of ways to make money without having a traditional job?

No matter who you are, there’s almost certainly something here for you.

Unless you’re intentionally trying not to get an official job, there’s a good chance that some of these might lead to more long term employment.

There’s also the added benefit of any type of entrepreneurial endeavor: your wages aren’t fixed. That can be good or bad, but when it’s good, it’s really good.

Some people would rather make a guaranteed $100 in a day, but some people would rather take the gamble on making $50 or $150 in a day.

Regardless of which type you are, the options on this list could lead to either.

Need Extra Cash for Free?

If you like getting paid for surveys, and are going to join only one site, I would recommend you choose Ipsos-iSay. Ipsos is the most fun and well-paying panel. Give it a try to see how you like it. It is free anyway!

There are actually quite a few living in the US that make a really nice income working on Fiverr. $5 is just the base rate. I am a Fiverr seller and most of my gigs are upwards of $45. I easily get 15 to 25 orders a week. Also, I have so many returning clients. It’s rare to have a $5 order.

There may be other international countries that work for $5 no matter the complexity of the order. I think it’s unfortunate. If you’re providing quality service and it takes time to make a great product, you should get paid accordingly.

Satrapsays

I agree 100%. $5 is indeed just the base rate. I actually have a few gigs on fiverr that start with a $5 base, but most people upgrade their orders and it can go as high as $45.

Exactly right, I have been on many of the freelance sites for a few years now, and have yet to get one job.

I have a formal American education in Communications, and I am also a webmaster with several sites, and products of my own.

I find it disturbing that these third world countrties are taking all these jobs, especially India. These people have poor spelling, and bad grammar, yet they get the jobs because they work for pennies.

Some of those freelance sites also charge a fee to “bid” on these jobs. That is just plain wrong.

I usually can find jobs on my own, because Internet Marketing is not what it use to be. The competition is fierce, paid asdvertising yields little due to cost, and Google keeps changing the rules.

Then there are payment thresholds, and buyers that request refunds after they download the product.

I hate to be negative, but getting a “real” job is much easier, or just getting off the computer, and work from home, not at home.

Eric Coonssays

Another great resource. Thank you. If a person wants to make some extra cash, they really just need to capitalize on the laziness of others. Raking leaves, shoveling snow, cleaning gutters, picking up cans all excellent ways to make money by focusing on lazy.

Satrapsays

That, and time.

A lot of people are busy these days and view their time as an (money-making) asset. For some, they can make more money by using the time it takes them to cut the grass, to do their business. So it makes sense for them to outsource such tasks.

Nelson Ssays

Regarding #12, Getting Paid for Expert Advice, the AllExperts site appears to be all volunteer only with no mention anywhere of being paid for any expert answer posted.

I do however appreciate your post/blog of all these opportunities. Do you have an opinion regarding the site JustAnswer as a viable paid to answer site?

Satrapsays

Nelson, thanks for the heads up. It seems like AllExperts has changed the rules. The site indeed is using volunteers to answer the questions. They used to pay their experts for answers.

I’ll update the post. Thanks again.

As for JustAnswer, I use it myself and I do make money. That said, I wouldn’t count on this kind of sites as a way to make a living. But they are great for extra cash in your spare time.

I definitely identify with not being one of those who get an assured $100 daily in favor of the chance to make $50 or $150 on different days. I’m not against being employed but I love being entrepreneurial.

Satrapsays

Thanks for the feedback, Samuel.

Brendasays

Thanks. Great article. I will be trying some of your suggestions.

Satrapsays

You are welcome, Brenda. I am glad you find it helpful.

Which ones in particular are you interested in trying?

Elysesays

For Plasma, don’t forget CSL Plasma. :)
Great stuff. Tried a few of these already myself, and they’re reliable. Thanks!

Satrapsays

Thanks for the heads up, Elyse. Are the process and rewards about the same?

Jessesays

Love the article, thank you very much! Definitely want to try out Fiverr and writing some e-books. Only problem I found is, I live in Australia so a lot of the websites you mentioned aren’t exactly useable to me. Other than that, I’m excited to try out some things. Thanks again :)!

Satrapsays

Thanks for the kind words, Jesse. I am glad this post is being helpful to you and others.

I really do hope you do get on with ebook. I always encourage people to do it. The fact is each of us have some kind of expertise or knowledge that could be useful to others. And the good thing about ebooks and Kindle books is that they don’t have to be a thousand page long. They can be just a few pages, as long as they deliver the message, they are good.

Anyway, I wish you good luck. I’d be happy to hear about your progress as you go on. So feel free to comment here or contact me through our contact page if you have any question or need help with getting things going.

As for sites not being available for Australians, you can normally find the Australian version of them easily.

Jessesays

Thanks for the reply! I haven’t been able to check out any of the websites yet, due to being a little busy. I’ll let you know on my progress when I do get the chance!

In regards to the Australian sites, I’ll try my best to find them. Thanks again!

Satrapsays

You are very welcome, Jesse.

Sure, life is busy and hectic for all of us these days. Hopefully you’ll find the time soon to do it.

I’ll keep an eye out for Australian specific sites and will let you know if I find any.

Mimisays

On that same note, do you have a Canadian list or know which ones do not work in Canada?

Satrapsays

Mimi, most sites that accept Americans, also accept Canadians.

Jessesays

I’ve been looking lots into blogging and ebooks lately, any tips on them specific areas? It’s hard finding ideas for an ebook. But I’ve heard stories of people making a living off of them, with fairly simple ebooks.
Thanks again,
Jesse.

Satrapsays

Jesse, yes there are people who make a living selling eBooks, but the process is anything but easy. Sure, you can write simple eBooks and people will buy them. After all, what may be simple and obvious to you, is not always obvious to other folks. So my advice is to go with subjects you are knowledgeable about. Pick something you are good at and share it with others.

Now writing an eBook is the easy part, promoting it is the hard part. That said, Amazon Kindle has made it much easier to promote your eBooks. So I would suggest you write your eBook in kindle format and publish it on Amazon Kindle. They have a few free programs that help you promote the book as well.

As the Librarian for the entire massage profession, I must profess my dismay at item #51. In most states, therapists are required to be licensed to practice, and in some of those states, they are also healthcare practitioners. If you want to violate state and federal laws in the United States, or endanger clients, please, feel free to poke your hands and fingers into contra-indicated areas of the body. Don’t know what contra-indicated means or which areas require care?

Don’t maybe. Ok?

Satrapsays

Kenneth, you seem to miss the point of this list. We didn’t put these items on the list and suggest that every single person try every single item on this list. Of course you are going to have to check with your state laws if you are doing any kind of business, including massage therapy.

Cathy christysays

Thankyou for the suggestions listed. I am acually located in India. Im looking at options towork from home since im a psoriasis patient and cannot take up a full time job. Wanted to know if i can get work through the sites as well. Warm regards, cathy

Satrapsays

Cathy, most of the sites mentioned in this list are for extra income. You can’t earn a full time living. Although there are a few that can and will earn you money than a day job ever could, like freelancing and blogging.

And yes, you can do almost all of the options mentioned here from home. And the best part is that you can work whenever you want.

I agree with Kenneth. I’m a massage therapist, and it is against the law in my state to accept money for massage if you are not licensed. You can’t just announce that you will give massages for x amount of cash, and be legal. And believe me, law enforcement checks.

Satrapsays

I totally agree, Jeanie.

Again, we didn’t put the items on this list thinking that every single person has to try every one of these. It’s juts a list of ideas and possibilities for people with different skills and expertise. And as always, before starting any business, it’s a must to check your local laws and regulations to ensure you are operating within those laws.

These things to make money or not realistic. I say in a real world give me some good ideas!!! Please

Satrapsays

Tobin,

Yes they are. They just are different and take a different kind of skills. You have to have the willingness and drive to take risks and do things that others think “are not realistic”. That’s how entrepreneurs make million dollar companies out of seemingly stupid ideas that other people dismiss.

I personally have made money with many of these methods, and I know many others who have done the same.

diegosays

I totally agree with you, everyone would love have daily a $500 cheque delivered on $50. Bills inside an LV briefcase… there’s two well more like 3 elements in the magic equation to make a profit on every single idea (btw beautiful list). Here is the equation

Capitalize list into real $= hunger+balls
Depending on which of the factored of the addition is bigger the result will be
Fluctuating from fact to fact; same as in between different individuals.
But as long as they exist, always money will flow

Anthonysays

Agreed, these ”professional” types who are already established either have no idea and never has or they forget what it’s like for the real ”average joe” which 99% of the time no matter how much they want to be, they are not one of us!

P.S. I am not affiliated with WGU, I just have friends who work at home for them and they love it!

Satrapsays

Awesome addition, Karen. Thanks very much for sharing the link.

Paula Taylorsays

Thanks for the list, will check out some. I live in the Caribbean so it is kinda difficult to find sites that really generate a decent income. Can you recommend any that I could try

Satrapsays

You are welcome, Paula.

I don’t know of any specif sites catering to the Caribbeans. But if you want to make decent money, you may want to try freelancing (writing, design, etc). Freelancing sites don’t care where you live as long as you do a good job.

Allisonsays

Wow, I haven’t heard of the mock trial idea. Sounds really interesting, this list is great! Will definitely look these things up.

Satrapsays

I am glad you found something new, Alison. Thanks for the kind words.

Marysays

Hello, The mentioned survey sites pay with rewards. I was wondering which pay cash. I’m not looking to make big bucks just an extra $100 a month if possible.

Just a couple of thoughts (love the stuff you have on here–I do some already and will investigate a few others).

First, in addition to pet sitting in your home, you can house sit with or without pets. In fact, if you have good enough references, you can get jobs in places where you want to visit and have a housing-free vacation. Since you’re watering the plants, bringing in the mail, and keeping the house safer by being occupied, you can charge more than pet sitting in your own home.

Also, if you live in an area that has high end boutiques and/or resorts AND if you make hand crafted items, see if the two of you are a good match. I live in a tiny town in Ecuador so that doesn’t work so well for me but I still sell my wares locally. I certainly couldn’t make a living at it but while I’m house sitting and have time to listen to audio books, I crochet things and sell them. The two of those things bought me a tiny house full of custom-made furniture in a little over a year.

Thanks for the list–you did a fabulous job of pulling tons of stuff together.

Satrapsays

Awsome tips, Cynthia. Thanks very much for taking time to share it with us. I’m sure a lot of our readers will benefit from it.

Mary - Kittyn Fuhr on second lifesays

Thank you for sharing the Virtual World “real estate” venue. I have been in Second Life for 10 years. There are people who do sell land/etc.

However, there is another part that you may make mention of, which is “creation”. There are people who create textures (which is also another work-at-home opportunity…graphics design), there are others who create items called “scuplties” or “mesh” which is a building block to making items in second life…and then there are people who who use said items to create items in Second Life…houses, furniture, vehicles, animals…a lot of items to enrich people’s virtual life.

Many people have made extra income from it…from just enough to buy their virtual outfits/skin/appearance, to paying for their virtual living needs (land tier and purchase, etc), to actually pulling Real Life dollars from the game…I even know of many who made their living from it (and one person who died in real life, and her friend stepped in, and now runs her business, with the money going to support the deceased player’s children).

Thank you for including this version of money making, and thank you for sharing all of the opportunities. I am disabled and unemployed right now, so this will be a good list for me to look at!

Satrapsays

Thank you very much for taking time to let us know about the “creation” part of Second Life. That is very interesting.

Wow, that’s amazing that you know someone who actually makes a living on Second Life.

I am sorry about your disability and I am very glad that this site is being useful in you helping you find new ways to earn a little extra income here and there.

alchemistsays

Selling characters, aquipment and gold is against Blizzard’s terms of service last time I checked. You can get your account banned from the game for that mess. Not that it stops the gold/ character selling.

lizsays

Everything was great on here except the massaging people, at least if you are thinking about making a home business out of it. It is against federal law to have a massage clinic (or practice) with out a license and if you are not reporting taxes. If you are just massaging family and friends, I guess that could be fine, but there’s always a risk of injury if you don’t exactly know what you are doing.

Satrapsays

You are absolutely correct, Liz. Thanks for reminding us about that. I went ahead and updated the post with the point you just made. Thank you.

You can totally drive yourself to donate plasma. If you feel woozy after donating, the nurses monitor you until you’re feeling better. The key is to drink tons of water the day before and day of donating.

Annablesays

This list is awesome! A ton of things I am going to try!

Satrapsays

Thanks, Annable. Glad you liked it.

Yehuwdah Yodhhewawhesays

Where are the free offers on quickrewards please

Sandysays

Your advice for participating in a class-action lawsuit when you have never used the product is dishonest and unethical. The advice for trying massage therapy is dangerous (you could really injure someone if you don’t know what you are doing) and in most states is illegal.

Satrapsays

Sandy, please point me to where we suggested that you should apply for class action law suits even if you haven’t used the product.

As for massage therapy, that’s why we mentioned you need a licence. Just because a job is dangerous, we shouldn’t mention it? And what job isn’t dangerous on some level?

I know you are, Ryan! I do read BloggingFromParadise from time to time. Awesome work you are doing. And thanks for taking the time to comment.

Nzekwe Godswillsays

this is my first visit on this website and I really found some amazing information here..you have shared some quality information on this place…looking forward to gain more knowledge from this website..thanks for sharing them..!!

Satrapsays

Thanks so much for the kind words!

Helensays

I started my own cleaning business. Pt at first while I worked my day job. After one year I more than doubled my income doing the cleaning business so I left my day job. I was make $150,000 a year within 3 years and had 4 part time employees. That worked out very well for me. I did commercial and post construction.

Hope payment surf pays money and what is the cap, is it advised to upgrade the account

Satrapsays

Great question, Mathews. In regards to there being a cap, you can only visit 200 sites a day.

As far as upgrading, I’d say no, I wouldn’t pay to upgrade.

As I mentioned in the post, I think paid to surf sites are a waste of your time. There are far better ways you can make extra money online using that time. The only reason I listed it is because it is a legitimate site and way to make a few cents and I know our readers like a wide range of options when it comes to earning extra money.

Hope that helped. Let me know if you have any other question, Mathews.

Gabrielasays

I must say great article. A lot of interesting things to do but unfortunately not for me. This tips will not be well used in Europe. Sometimes I am really sad to live out of America. Good luck.

Satrapsays

Thanks for the comment, Garbriela. While some of the items on the list may be easier to complete in the U.S. (taking surveys), there are many others that can be done anywhere. Taking stock photos, dog walking, starting a blog, running a virtual storefront, etc. You can make money doing most of the things on this list in Europe! Thank you for sharing, and I hope you will keep us updated on your success!

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